AG urges more ex-convicts to seek to have records expunged

More than half of the 467 people who applied over the past four years to have their criminal records expunged have been successful in getting their convictions struck from the record, Attorney General Dale Marshall reported on Friday.

And he called on more former convicts who are eligible to have their records cleaned up to come forward, and further suggested it may be time for more flexibility in expungement considerations.

“There are some instances we have to look at and we have to dig deep and ask ourselves if this is enough,” Marshall said as he shared the story of an individual who was charged with manslaughter and his penalty was “greater than the penalty set out in the law”, he was rehabilitated and is now a business owner, but his record cannot be expunged.

“I have had some discussions with the chairwoman of the committee [dealing with expungements] and I have asked for their recommendations. They have sent me some for amendments but I am going to send them back and ask them to have another look at it. While there are always consequences, we must always give ourselves enough flexibility to be able to do justice in a different kind of way,” Marshall said.

He provided statistics on expungement applications in response to questions posed to him in the well of Parliament as debate continued on the 2023-2024 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

“From 2018 through the end of 2022, we have had 467 persons applying for expungement of records. Of that, 273 were approved; that is not bad. One hundred and sixty, however, had to be deferred,” he said, explaining that deferral occurs for several reasons, including unpaid fines and incomplete documentation.

“Only 22 were denied and then there were seven where individuals were ineligible.”

He said he regretted that more people were not coming forward to seek expungement as he pointed out that the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act provided an avenue for Barbadians to “come forward with a clean slate”.

“I urge people to come forward and take the benefit of this,” Marshall added.

For an individual to be eligible to have their record expunged, they must have completed a specified rehabilitation period after serving a specified sentence.

“Many people believe you can have your record expunged as a matter of course, no matter what happened after you have served your time, but that is not the case,” said Marshall.

“When you apply to have your record expunged, it goes to a committee and you have to provide supporting documentation – nothing onerous, but the burden is on you to prove that you have been on good behaviour. So, just because the time passes and you apply it does not mean that you will automatically have your record expunged. The matters are invariably referred to the police and the police then do certain background checks,” he explained.

The AG also reminded that with the passing of the amended Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act two years ago, individuals who had criminal records for possession of 14 grammes or less of marijuana at the time of the passing of that legislation would automatically have their record expunged.

“That got rid of thousands and thousands of [criminal records] but there are still people who come forward and say ‘we didn’t know you could do this, we didn’t know you could do that’.

“In many instances, individuals who perhaps for the first time apply for a certificate of character are reminded that they were convicted back in 1980 or 1990 of an offence but they want a job on a cruise ship or the farm labour programme, and they come running to say ‘we want to apply for the expungement of the record’, but it takes time. I regret to say that sometimes we are able to expedite it but other times the individuals lose the opportunity,” said Marshall. (MM)